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What makes a cloud service “enterprise ready”? Is it enterprise pricing models? An enterprise sales team? An enterprise mentality?

As more and more cloud service providers look to target enterprises with their offerings, the “enterprise-ready” question becomes increasingly important. The ‘third platform’ (adopting cloud-based apps instead of traditional server-based solutions) is gaining traction within big business, as expected. But how do they find out which solutions are truly built to meet their needs?

At Mozy, we take our enterprise credentials seriously. Sure, we offer a product that’s so simple to use that millions of individuals trust us with their data protection. But we also have more than one hundred thousand businesses and one thousand enterprises who choose Mozy to protect their data.

Why? Well, at Mozy, we believe that being enterprise ready is something that needs to permeate the whole of our business. It means building world-class data centers that run on enterprise-grade hardware. It means offering enterprise-level security at all stages of the backup process. It means offering enterprise-quality support with dedicated resources 24x7x365. It means enterprise control and administrative tools. It means being a part of EMC, a global leader in data protection and availability solutions. It means a hundred different things, not least of which is a commitment to excellence in compliance.

That’s why Mozy has long made SOC 1 SSAE 16 Type II examination and ISO 27001 certification a priority. Mozy is one of the only cloud data protection service providers to undertake these rigorous independent security assessments. This sort of compliance exercise is completely voluntary and not something to be entered into lightly – we see it as a badge of honor and an external validation of our commitment to you, our valued customer.

So, what does ‘enterprise-ready’ mean? It means thinking at every turn about what enterprises need and going the extra mile to provide it. Or, that’s what we think anyway. Tell us what you think in the comments below.

Business owners and professionals can come together on at least one idea about meetings: While nobody loves to take them, everybody agrees that face-to-face time is a key value to the conference-room setting for meetings. Companies are increasingly looking for effective ways to provide that face-to-face opportunity–even when one of those faces is far apart from the other.

Indeed, the circumstances around “face time” are changing.

A new Blue Jeans Network survey shows that while 71% of polled professionals believe they’ve lost a business deal because their personal contact with a client or partner was replaced by conference calls and all-audio environments, some 30% are now using online tools to create video meetings that can in turn replace the physical conference room.

“This new way to collaborate means that bad weather, budget cuts, holidays and a geographically scattered team are no longer threats to business productivity,” said Stu Aaron, chief commercial officer at Blue Jeans. “You can easily conduct face-to-face meetings with nearly any browser-based device — from any location.”

The Blue Jeans Network survey offers additional insight into the state of the modern meeting and the changes business conferences will undergo in 2014.

Meeting Modern: Trends and Technology

A number of trends are affecting the meeting milieu.

In 2013, winter storms resulted in more meetings rather than fewer–some 20% more. Meetings simply became online conferences instead of in-office meet-ups.

One-third of all meetings now include participants who are appearing via mobile devices. New York holds the title for most mobile meeters, with San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston close behind.

Mobile is driving a change in meeting times, as well. Three times the conferences via mobile devices are now happening at 7 a.m. versus 8 a.m., or at 6 p.m. instead of 5 p.m.

Meetings on Saturdays and Sundays declined by more than one-third in the last half of 2013–from one in 10 meetings occurring on the weekend to just one in 15. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the most popular meeting days of the week.

The traditional lunch hour is also improving, at least in terms of how many times meetings intrude upon it. The polls shows a 20% dip in conferences scheduled between 12 noon and 1 p.m.

The survey also revealed another interesting statistic: While 41% of meetings begin on time, the survey stated, CEOs, CTOs, and other C-level execs typically arrive after everyone else.

Hiring a new employee can be stressful–especially for a small business. Get it right, and you improve the productivity and profitability of the company. Get it wrong, and it can end up costing the company dearly–in time, money and, potentially, reputation.

While there is always an element of the unknown when making a new hire, there are some tried-and-true guidelines that organizations can follow to make the process go as smoothly as possible.

Your ‘gut’ isn’t a hiring manager. Your intuition can be a powerful force, but, when it comes to hiring, gut feelings should not drive your decision-making process. Rely more on work samples and references and less on a candidate’s charisma.

Favors to friends and family won’t do you any favors. Cousins, nephews, buddies and next-door neighbors–keep all these individuals in their place. Due to emotional ties and the complications that come with friendships, bringing personal and family relations into the workplace can be a recipe for trouble if things don’t go well on the job.

Not every great candidate is a great small-business candidate. The stellar designer whose last job was in a shiny office tower with 10 times the resources your small business can provide might not be the right fit. Problems arise when a new hire has all the right qualifications and skills, but also has expectations that are torqued to a big-business kind of horsepower. Be clear with your candidates about the nature of a small business — your small business. Be specific about its atmosphere and limitations, and also its charms. How a candidate responds can tell you a lot about how he or she will fit into a small-shop experience.

Listen more than you speak. You feel strongly about your business and love talking about it, but it’s important when interviewing a job candidate to listen more than speak. Market the pros of your company and provide all pertinent information, but then stop talking for as long as you can and open your mind to what the potential employee has to say. Watch the candidate’s body language and seek out tones, textures and all the little things that will develop your impression of how this person’s skills and background match up with how they present themselves and who they probably really are.

Beware of illegal questions: Small-business owners may not have a human resources department or even an HR specialist on board, so they have to learn themselves what is and isn’t OK to ask during a job interview. Stay away from questions about things like pregnancy, marital status or age. Basically, avoid any questions whose answers could be perceived as placing a candidate at a disadvantage.

The good news is that successful hiring comes down mostly to common sense. Pay attention to these tips and then start fielding your best bets with the confidence that you’re about to find the right person for the job — and that you’re going about it by making all the right moves yourself.

Welcome back to another edition of our “My name is…” series – this blog series is dedicated to introducing you to some of our in-house talent, the talent that keeps the Mozy running. There is no question that we are very fortunate to be able to work with intelligent, compassionate people from around the globe.

This month we’d like to introduce you to Kris Meulemans, one of our EMEA senior Cloud Systems Engineers. Kris spends his time helping customers, sales teams and many others to spread the Mozy love. Kris has been instrumental in helping our EMEA customers with familiarizing themselves with the awesomeness that is Mozy. I know that Kris has helped me with many requests over the months and has always been extremely accommodating.

I define my workspace as …
Whatever bit of space I can put my laptop down on, although I do love my double screen set up.

A device I can’t live without …
My mp3 player – although a snazzy laptop that boots in no time is a close second.

When I arrive at work, I typically start off by …
Saying hi to my colleagues, discussing any hot issues over a coffee and getting started into my email.

My work routine is …
Never the same and always as efficient as possible due to the many hats I wear during a day. Prioritize, run emails through the do, delegate, delete routine and have regular coffees to keep up with ‘the pulse’. That’s if I’m not travelling somewhere.

I do/do not listen to music at work and it helps me work better because …
I definitely do, my headset is on most of the times. In a nearly open plan office with people on the phone all around me it’s the only way to get and stay in ‘the zone’.

The best advice I can give a recent college graduate looking to do what I do is …
Learn as much as possible in any way possible. Your degree is an entry key; the rest comes down to constantly adapting and continuously improving what you do. If you see problems, fix them.

Outside of work, I am passionate about …
My family and friends, Saltimbocca and music. There are many stories attached to the second, suffice to say that any Italian restaurant can be judged by it.Author’s note: I will have to agree with Kris on this statement – Saltimbocca is definitely at the top of my list for Italian favorites. Oh the deliciousness that is Italian fare… ☺

My eating habits are …
Quality first, as much as possible with friends and always ending with a good coffee.

If I could be someone for a day – I would be …
A drummer on tour with a world famous band.

The “secret sauce” that makes me who I am …
The exactly measured recipe combining techie consultancy, project management, general fixing of things, listening, coaching, strategic thinking and a special secret selection of spices.Author’s note: Well put, Kris!

At Mozy, our customers come first. But if there’s something else we truly believe in, it’s the power of technology to transform businesses. So, when we have a chance to marry the two together and use technology to improve the customer experience – well, we jump at it!

In recent years, we’ve completely overhauled our online support experience with improved facilities for online chat, a huge knowledge base of articles, an enhanced online community and even resources for solving customer issues through social media.

You guys only see the front end of those solutions but there’s a lot going in the background to make all of those things work together. That way, as you access different support channels, we have a single view of you, and our agents always have the information they need at their finger tips to support you in the best possible way.

We hope you’ve noticed how easy it now is to access support from Mozy. Someone else that’s noticed is the judging team at the Stevie Awards. The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are the world’s top recognition for sales, contact-center, and customer-service excellence.

Last week, the Stevie Awards judging team gave Mozy an award in the Best Use of Technology category at their Sales and Customer Service awards ceremony.

We’re so proud of our award and our support team overall. You can find out why by reading more about the team and what we offer here. And, if you ever need us, our award winning team is right here 24x7x365.

Although the question may sound stupid and the answer may seem obvious, it is absolutely necessary to ask.

The Web is overflowing with rich data, but much of it is mined and reviewed in the absence of clearly defined goals. Oftentimes, mining data is expensive. Many businesses have aimlessly followed the big data trend and now have nothing to show for it. Business owners would benefit immensely from data — big and small — if they knew how to turn that data into actionable insights.

Here’s an example from personal experience that illustrates this point.

Turning data into action

When I’m not blogging, I analyze data collected from 200,000 websites reaching over 250 million people each month to identify important inbound traffic trends. Last month, I produced a report titled “Search Traffic vs Social Referrals,” which reviewed the amount of traffic the top 5 search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask, AOL) and the top 5 social media platforms (Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Reddit) drove to websites during the past 13 months.

The predetermined goal was to understand–relatively–how much traffic search engines and social media sites sent to sites around the Web.

The data suggested social referrals to sites doubled over the past year. As the marketing manager for Shareaholic, I asked myself the all-important question, “So what?” I reasoned that because social media has driven an increasing number of visits to websites, more resources should be invested into improving social reach. Thus, I began creating content that was more shareable versus simply optimized for search engines.

Asking “So what?” when looking at data drives you to extract important information–the kind of data that can provide valuable insights useful for making sound business decisions.

The above example illustrated how I, as a marketer, used inbound traffic data to make smarter marketing decisions. Similarly, you can look at financial spreadsheets, technical data or the results of a survey to improve your business.

Looking beyond the data

With all of this said, it’s important to have a bit of healthy skepticism toward findings. When I discovered social media referrals grew 111% year over year, I didn’t immediately — and blindly — follow the numbers.

I researched the underlying causes for the recorded trend to make sense of it all. In this situation, my research corroborated the trends I saw. The explosive growth of social networks such as Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter provides supporting evidence that social media could — and did — drive an increased number of visits to sites across the web.

Conclusions

Essentially, data gives you an opportunity to observe trends, understand why the trends are happening and make wise decisions that will help your business.

If you’re in the planning stages of a data mining project, be sure to ask the question, “So what?” before moving forward. Pursue the data with meaningful purpose; don’t gather data for the simple sake of doing so.

If you’re wrapping up a research project with nothing to show except spreadsheets filled with numbers and charts with poor labels, don’t feel overwhelmed, and don’t throw in the towel. Instead, figure out ways to use the data to further business goals.

What questions should you ask before trusting your data to a cloud service? Not all cloud services are the same and by not asking key questions up front, you can leave your business exposed.

To highlight what can happen when you trust people with your data without checking them out first, Mozy carried out a hidden camera experiment asking a series of strangers in a coffee shop to look after a laptop. Find out what happened:

What should our man have asked before trusting anyone with his data?

How long will you look after it?
Just as some of our participants only protected the data for a limited period of time, not all providers are in it for the long term. Find out how long the provider has been around and how committed to the market it really is.

Will you look at my data?
Some participants in the experiment thought the data on our laptop might be of value to them. Some cloud providers will scrape your data to create anonomised information to sell on to advertisers. Encryption and privacy commitments are essential here – make sure your cloud provider has them.

Will you leave my data vulnerable?
Some of the people in our experiment did very little to keep the data safe, leaving it unattended as they left the coffee shop and went about their business. Some cloud providers don’t encrypt data and some take physical security more seriously than others. Make sure that your cloud provider is storing your data on enterprise-class equipment, in tier 4 data centers and in an encrypted state at all times.

Can anyone take my data?
In the film, we saw someone take the computer they were trusted with but we also had people who let a computer be taken from them. Data can be intercepted when using cloud services if the provider has failed to secure it. Ensure that your provider offers end-to-end encryption and transfers data over an SSL connection.

That’s the underlying message from small-business owners about 2013, according to a new Manta survey.

The poll shows some 72% of SMB leaders characterized the past 12 months as a period in which their companies flourished. The grimmest days of a recession-bound marketplace may be behind us, after all.

Good news, if it’s the case, but that doesn’t mean these SMB owners are resting on their laurels. Instead, the plan for the year to come seems to be growth, to push even harder. Let’s look at where small businesses say they are headed next, and break out some of the tips that can help them — and you — achieve a similarly successful 2014.

Working for the Best: SMBs on This Year’s Goals

Marketing is the word for the new year, according to the Manta poll. Small-business owners — 40% of them — said that finding new ways to promote their company would be the priority between now and December.

Other resolutions included:

21% said improving customer service and bringing in new clients topped the list

14% plan to launch new products, or upgrade and enhance the goods and services they currently provide

9% said that increased networking was a primary goal

5% intend to delegate more responsibility to employees

What does this all mean? For one thing, online resources will likely play an even more prominent role.

“With almost half of small-business owners focusing on amplifying marketing and promotions, we can expect to see more [of them] leveraging techniques that capitalize on their online and offline networks and digital content and distribution strategies,” said Kristy Campbell, director of marketing and communications at Manta.”

How to Get There: Tips for Achieving in 2014

Whatever your goals may be, your business is more likely to prosper if you apply your energy and resources to them in fresh and smart ways.

Start with the following points. Each is geared to help your company write this year’s success stories, no matter what your resolutions may be.

Align your personal and professional vision: This year, establish a vision for your business that is aligned with your personal vision. Your personal health and professional health impact each other, so it is important to maintain both. One way is by complementary goal setting.

Create your own advisory board: Business owners don’t need to have all the answers. Consider developing a small-business advisory board. This can be in a more traditional format with knowledgeable experts, or you can create your own virtual boardroom through online forums, Google Hangouts and other Internet-fueled meet-ups.

Give and grow: Giving back to those in your network–whether they are employees, other small-business owners or loyal customers–will help you to grow your own network and business. Exchanging advice, developing strong internal teams and enhancing your relationship with clients are all important parts of making your business thrive.

Goals set. Strategies in place. May 2014 be a year in which business is better than ever. Because, right now, for SMB owners, the numbers suggest that the future is looking bright.

If you’re a fan of Mozy (and it’s hard not to be if you like simple, automated, and comprehensive backup that includes everything—even the sync—and first-class support, and all of this for a bargain), you’ve probably seen the article in Business Insider about how Mozy is one of the top 50 apps employees sneak into work. Mozy is on the list at a respectable #18.

Now, I’m not a fan of sneaking apps into work. I tend to follow the workforce philosophy that was pounded into me while serving in the military: “If it isn’t issued to you, then you don’t need it!” But today’s workplace isn’t the same. For example, with more and more employees embracing the bring-your-own-device approach to get the job done, it’s not hard to see why so many of the apps on The Top 50 Apps Employees Sneak Into Work made it on the list. Today, I don’t believe it’s so much that employers are concerned about too much goofing off on company time with these apps; instead, it’s more that IT has concerns (and rightly so) about employee privacy and corporate data security. But as employees were quick to recognize the benefits of BYOD (such as workforce productivity and the flexibility for employees to do their work from just about anywhere and at any time), employers have recognized that it makes for good employee morale when the workforce is enthusiastic about getting the job done in a way that works best for them. It’s one of those win-win situations that isn’t going to go away.

But getting back to the list, clearly, some of those apps have nothing to do with work. However, these days, it’s not always easy to know why someone downloads an app at work. For example, while one employee may be checking their Google mail to see if their recent amazon.com order just shipped, another employee may be sending a work file to their Gmail account to so that they can work on it at home later that evening . (Clearly, this employee needs to learn about Mozy and quickly download the Mozy backup software with file sync capabilities and mobile access. And after he’s done that, he needs to share his knowledge with his fellow workers and manager. (I can hear the conversation now: “Sir, Mozy is complete data protection with anywhere, anytime file access. It’s time to boost productivity, sir!”)

While old habits are sometimes hard to break, I think I am changing my ways. I don’t have any issue with someone downloading Mozy on their work computer if it helps them do their job better and they’re more enthusiastic about doing their job because they can do it in a way that works best for them. And while the military way of “If it isn’t issued to you, then you don’t need it” approach isn’t always the wrong approach, sometimes there are better ways.

But if you’re going to download Mozy on your work computer, be sure to drop a line to your IT department about the benefits of Mozy. Mozy just makes good sense. And we’re #18 on the list to prove it.

Welcome to our first anniversary of the “My name is…”, our blog series on introducing you to some of our talented team members who directly contribute to the success of Mozy. Mozy has been fortunate to win “Utah’s Best Place to Work” four times in a row. We’re successful; our products are secure and sustainable, and we value our customers. Having said that, Mozy wouldn’t be the amazing place it is without our dedicated, passionate and generous team members. We are very fortunate to be surrounded by extremely intelligent people who inspire and motivate others around them.

This time, we’d like you to meet Scott Lee, our Director of Marketing. Scott is a key driving force behind all the marketing initiatives that we undertake for our business-to-business products and channel marketing for MozyPro and MozyEnterprise. Scott has provided some key insights to how and where Mozy should position itself, in the B2B space.

I define my workspace as …
Depends on the day or time of day. Sometimes it’s a desk, sometimes a conference room, sometimes the hallway.

A device I can’t live without …
iPhone.Author’s note: I mean, if you own an iPhone then you know this feeling (myself included)! How did we ever manage without it?!?!?

When I arrive at work, I typically start off by …
Filling up my water cup…must stay hydrated. I check email, the business dashboard, and then usually wander over to the sales team to see how things are going. Then off to meetings or whatever.

My work routine is …
I am a list guy. I make a list of objectives for each quarter, then a list of weekly projects or tasks, and manage to that each day. Of course it doesn’t all get done, but it keeps me focused on the big things while limiting as much minutiae as possible. I even schedule time in my calendar for tasks as if they were meetings. I also float around a lot to talk face to face with people, hear what they think, etc. It’s crazy how many great ideas come from actual conversations! #emailhasitslimits

I do/do not listen to music at work and it helps me work better because …
Definitely do. I have Spotify or Pandora on when I’m at my desk, usually listening to classical if I’m in a heavy analytical mindset, classic rock for pounding through email, or a mix of stuff if I’m writing/reviewing content.

The best advice I can give a recent college graduate looking to do what I do is …
Work hard, work smart, work with others not against them.

Outside of work, I am passionate about …
My family (my wife and I have five children), golf, road cycling, and college sports. Go Cougars!

My eating habits are …
Better than they have been for a while. I have a weakness for chips and salsa though.

If I could be someone for a day – I would be …
Jimmer Fredette in a Utah Jazz uniform.